Skirts
by AnEarthlyKnight
Summary: Deryn/Alek, AU multi-chapter fic. A story about a boy and a girl who dresses like one, and about the 5 times he saw her dressed like a lady. Non-Beta'd, rated T by a paranoid author to warn potential readers of the depression waiting within.
1. One

**AN: **Hello all! Just posting to make sure you all know that I'm alive, and will be continuing fics in my spare time (which hasn't been much lately).

I hope you enjoy this! :D

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_One_

"Ms. Sharp, what in the world is taking so long?" Dr. Barlow asked, pressing her ear against the door. She was dressed in a fancy black and blue gown made of silk, one that flowed down her body in a sleek, sophisticated way.

"It's these blasted skirts, ma'am. There are too barking many of them!" A muffled voice grumbled, and Alek had to smile. Since he had found out that his mate Dylan was actually a girl named Deryn, he was still surprised at how little her personality had changed.

Well, except for the love part. _That_, he was still getting used to (even after two and a half years).

"Ms. Sharp, we all know this is not the first time you've ever been in skirts. If you do not hurry up, this whole operation is going to fall apart."

"Aye, aye. But it's the first time in more than three years, ma'am. I look like a barking ninny!"

"Then the disguise is a good one. Or did you forget we're attempting to start a con here?" Dr. Barlow retorted, rolling her eyes.

"Aye, I remember. In any case, I'm nearabouts ready, don't blow a gasket," Alek heard her mutter. He smoothed his velvet black lapel and straightened the blue rose pinned to his black tuxedo, suppressing the urge to laugh at his poor unladylike friend.

Suddenly the door to Deryn's bedroom burst open and the lady in question appeared in a cacophony of rustling skirts, and Alek immediately fell silent.

Deryn stood tall in front of him, hands on hips, in a beautiful silver gown made of chiffon. There were gems strewn throughout the dress, and faded blue ribbons woven around the middle. It was strapless, and tapered in at her waist before billowing out into a very full skirt that hid her toes. Deryn wore a wig (for her short blonde hair was very distinctive and might cause her to be discovered) that was the same shade of blonde her real hair was, but longer. It was clipped to the right side of her head with a blue and silver butterfly clip, leaving the wig to flow in a tumble of soft curls. Her face held little makeup, but Alek could see darkness around her light blue eyes, making them the main feature of her face.

It was Alek's first time seeing Deryn in a dress and…well, he thought she looked stunning. Different, but _stunning_.

"These shoes will be the death of me," Deryn exclaimed, pushing one of her feet past her skirts to show them a tall blue shoe that did indeed look like a torture device.

Dr. Barlow scoffed and shoved a silver and blue fan into her hands. "This is hardly the most difficult disguise you have needed to pull off," she stated. "Now get your game face on. Remember, you are the Count and Countess de Buchleitner, here to see the emperor and his new adviser, Count Volger. You two are here to collect intel on the matter we discussed, alright?"

"Yes, yes," Deryn said impatiently, taking Alek's proffered arm. They stood together, awaiting Dr. Barlow's approval. She walked around them a few times, looking them up and down.

"Deryn, as long as you try to act and walk like a lady, the two of you are passable," she finally declared, rubbing her temples.

Deryn smiled a Cheshire cat grin and turned to Alek. "Shall we go and get this over with then, your Highness?"

Alek looked back into her eyes and smiled despite the breathless feeling coursing through his body. "It's just 'count' for tonight, my lady," he replied before tugging her toward the door.

Deryn followed and fell into Alek after a few steps. "Sorry," she muttered, embarrassed.

"It's alright, I'll walk slower," he replied, smiling at her as she regained her balance.

As he opened the door and guided her through it, Dr. Barlow yelled "Good gracious, Miss Sharp, could you at least attempt to walk like you aren't topside on the _Leviathan_? You were born a lady you know!"

"Oh get stuffed!" Deryn said, slamming the door shut behind herself and Alek.

When Alek looked at her, one eyebrow raised in question, Deryn deflated slightly. "Right. From here on out, I'm Countess de bush-lighter or whatever my name's supposed to be."

Alek just shook his head and lead Deryn to the stairs to the ballroom of the fancy hotel. They looked down the stairs together and Deryn's face went pale. "How am I going to make it down those blasted stairs?"

"You, the Countess de Buchleitner, are going to make it down these _elegant_ stairs like a dainty little lady."

Deryn glared, and Alek felt sufficiently chastised. "Sorry, love," he murmured. "Just trying to ease the tension. You'll be fine; just lean on me and we'll take it one step at a time."

As they were announced to the crowd, Alek lead Deryn down the steps as she tried not to look at her feet. When they made if halfway down without incident, she finally picked up her head and smiled with new-found confidence.

Alek glanced at her and realized that this incredible, glowing, beautiful and brave woman was all he wanted. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

**AN:** Hope you liked! Chapter 2 in the works... :)


	2. Two

**UPDATE:**

**Two quick things! One, thank you so much to danipayne, who was gracious enough to correct my horrific German translation. Thank you so much! So that has been changed :)**

**And two, I thought I ought to reply to a reviewer by the name of weapons. Thank you for taking the time to review. As much as I love seeing people with feminist views (I have a few myself. I am female and I rather dislike chauvinists), I have a few notes for you. For one, we must remember that this would have taken place in the past, the post war era in particular. So I'm not sure Sharp would have been chosen as the couples' last name due to the fact that women were still not considered even close to equal to men. Second of all, if you read chapter three you will see Deryn referred to as Empress Sharp von-Hohenberg. So please do not call me sexist if your opinion is not well informed. Thank you!**

**Sorry everyone, continue on! **

**AN:** ! :D

I'm so excited that I got this chapter out this quickly! Things have been nuts with school, but I really wanted you guys to see it ASAP.

The fluff continues in this chapter, which is Part 2 of 5 :)

Anyway, I really, really hope this measures up to your expectations. Reviews are always appreciated, and ENJOY! :)

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Two

"Barking spiders, can't I wear dress pants?" The soon-to-be Mrs. Von Hohenberg huffed from inside the bathroom of the newly refurbished castle.

"Deryn, if things had gone my way I'd let you wear whatever you bloody well like. But everyone else, including the groom, is pulling for a dress so I guess you'll just have to shut up and deal," Lilit replied, standing outside the bathroom door in her bridesmaids dress of rich maroon silk and gold lace, beginning in a strapless corset and hitching in folds at the waist down to the floor. It had gold embroidery running up one side of the corset and some at the top, as well as some hitched around the waist. A daring slit ran up her calf, revealing a thigh sheath with a knife sticking out of the sheath as well as her heels, which were tall and boot styled, with many patterns and buckles of neutral browns, golds and maroons. Covering this was a matching coat with long arms that scooped under her chest, buttoning from just under her raised chest.

Deryn, on the other side of the door, was struggling to make her choppy slightly-longer hair into some sort of wedding fashion while she thought about the proposal. It had been nearabouts seven months ago and the Emperor of Austria-Hungary had just passed away, controversially naming his advisor and Alek's ex-mentor Volger as his heir. Austria was in a state of anger, believing Volger to be unfit to be Emperor due to a lack of royal lineage. However, the Emperor had no heirs, and no one seemed to have a better claim than Volger. The proposal took place just after taking to the air after attending his coronation, on the topside of the Leviathan when they were there with Dr. Barlow who needed to fly with a new howler monkey fabrication to the USA. It had been October then, and the fall colours around Britain were spectacular. The ring was gorgeous but surprisingly basic, a simple silver band with a square diamond on top.

They had decided together that there really was no better place to be married than the abandoned castle in Switzerland where they had first met. Not only was it on "neutral" territory (though the war was long over, they still wanted to play to their differences and how they can be overcome), but it was also owned by Alek's family, beautiful in early May, and held plenty of space for the enormous guest list (something that neither Alek nor Deryn had planned, but the Leviathan's crew was quite larger than expected and Alek's remaining family rather massive). She couldn't have imagined a better place to make the biggest commitment of her 28 year life.

The only thing Deryn had objected to was being stuffed back into skirts. Sadly, she was surrounded by traditionalists. With the exception of Lilit (the maid of honour) and her brother (Alek's best man, which made Deryn more pleased than she was willing to admit), the wedding party had all ganged up on her and insisted that she be a lady _just this once_.

Not one to give in easily, she had quite a spat with them (mainly Alek, Volger and Dr. Barlow) before finally relenting under the condition that _she_ got to pick the dress. The one she had finally settled on (with Lilit's help) was made of ivory satin and lace, which flowed in a trumpet style down her body. It had fairly thick straps and dipped quite low in a slightly daring 'V', accenting her slim but toned upper body nicely (for although she was no longer a middy, she still kept in shape with her job in the Zoological Society). The dress surged simply down her body to widen slightly at the bottom, and had a very short train (for Deryn didn't want to risk tripping in her short walk down the aisle and looking like a ninny). Deryn supposed that if she had to be forced into skirts, this was the best and most like her she could get; slightly daring, simple and blunt. Her hair was mostly pulled into a messy curly bun on the left side of her head, but some of the curls hung by the other side of her face that Deryn just left there after declaring defeat in the bathroom mirror.

Lilit whistled as Deryn stomped out of the bathroom and over to her. "You've got to be the prettiest dame I've ever seen, Deryn," Lilit replied honestly, smiling at her friend.

"Everyone says it's my day, but you don't have to lie to make me feel better about being in this blasted thing," Deryn replied, frowning down at the dress.

"I wasn't," her friend replied. "Alek's going to be floored when he sees you. How many times has he seen you in a dress?"

"Once," Deryn muttered, looking down at the hem of her gown and walking past Lilit.

"Once? Really? That's it? You're telling me that he's seen you basically only in lad's clothes since he met you? Granted, trousers have always suited you but God's wounds! Deryn, how's he to know you're even a female if he can't see your curves or your bitties?"

Deryn laughed, a kind of boisterous laugh that made her eyes scrunch up as she looked at her friend fondly. "Well, it's not like we've become bloody nuns since we got involved with each other," she replied cheekily.

"Oh goodness, that was more than I needed to know," Lilit replied, grimacing and shaking her head. "Wow, I really can't believe you're getting married! It seems like we snogged just days ago. Next thing I know you two will be naming your kids!" Deryn smiled as Lilit wrapped her arms around her shoulders in a tight hug.

"Already have," she said ruefully. "Artemis and Franz for boys, Sophie and Nora for girls."

"God's wounds! He's gone and turned you into a proper lady!"

"Never! We're just… prepared. For anything."

Lilit pulled back to look in Deryn's eyes, suddenly serious. "You're not…" she asked, trailing off suggestively.

Deryn looked back with wide eyes, quickly assuring her "No, no, barking spiders! We haven't even bonked yet, Lilit!"

"Brilliant," she said fervently. "I mean, I'd be really happy for you both, but things are moving quickly enough as it is!"

Deryn and Lilit shared a smile before Lilit remembered her gift. "Now, before you walk out there and become Mrs. Alek von Hohenberg, I bought you a little present," she said, trying to contain her smile.

Deryn, in the middle of choosing between the crystal heels Dr. Barlow had brought her and a pair of her walking boots, shook her head. "Bloody hell, I never said you had to get me anything!"

"I know. That's what's best about it. I just wanted to give you something to remind yourself that even if you're going to be a wife, you'll still be a middy at heart," she replied, leading Deryn to the window.

Out on the field at the front of the castle was a Huxley, tied to a peg with a banner reading "Congratulations, Alek and Dylan!" running across it. The huxley looked just like the one she had flown all over Britain in on her first day in the airforce.

Deryn clapped her hand over her mouth as her heart clenched with gratitude. "Barking spiders," was all she could manage as she fought back the emotions threatning to overwhelm her.

"Your welcome, Deryn. You deserve it," Lilit whispered, placing her hand on Deryn's bare shoulder as they looked out over the castle grounds together.

A knock on the door interrupted the quiet, almost reverent hush and Newkirk poked his head in. "Deryn? Lilit? Jaspert sent me to fetch you. It's starting."

Lilt and Deryn smiled at each other as Deryn pulled on her boots and Lilit smiled. "We're on our way. Ready?"

"I've been waiting nearly half my life for this moment," Deryn replied. "Since I was 15 and I first met my barking prince."

Lilit rolled her eyes and strode to the door, and right before she closed the door she heard her friend whisper, "And don't think I didn't notice the "Dylan" on the banner either, you _dummkopf_."

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Alek waited at the end of the long brown aisle, wiping his palms nervously against his black velvet jacket. The day was absolutely perfect; sunny weather, green grass, wonderful colours, a crowd full of smiling faces, everything going without a hitch for once.

The only thing missing was his bride.

Really, the only reason Alek had fought so hard to have Deryn in a dress was although he loved her daily attire, he really did want to see her in a dress on probably the last occasion he could use as an excuse to get her into one.

The piano began and he could see Deryn's silhouette at the very end of the aisle, and everyone stood up and looked back at her. As she stepped out of the shadow of the castle, Alek drew a quick breath at the sight of her.

She was breathtaking, a vision, and more beautiful than even Alek could have imagined. She was clinging to her mother's arm with a white-knuckled hand, no doubt hating the attention on her in a womanly garb. Little did she know that no one could really help it; they were floored just like Alek, taken by surprise at her beauty.

When she reached the end of the aisle Mrs. Sharp gave Deryn's hand over to Alek, giving him a stern look through wet eyes as if to say _take care of her, or you answer to me_. Alek nodded in response and Mrs. Sharp smiled, turning to her spot on the sidelines and discreetly wiping her eyes.

Deryn looked up at Alek (for finally, _finally_ he had grown just a squick taller and saved his pride) and when she caught the look on his face she smiled softly, grabbing his other hand in her left so that they were facing each other in front of the priest.

If you had asked Alek later what exactly the priest's words were, he couldn't tell you. He also wouldn't say that he was so caught up in his wife's appearance that he couldn't think about anything else.

But he would say that she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever known. Alek would also confess to having been too caught up in the emotions running through his veins, and the expression in her eyes as he thought about everything that lay ahead of them.

Deryn smiled knowingly when Alek's "I do" was a bit delayed and flustered, and she responded in kind with confidence.

The priest closed the ceremony and everyone cheered as he bent and kissed his beautiful wife to seal their union.

"I cannot wait to get out of this barking dress!" Deryn whispered forcefully against his lips.

Alek looked her in the eyes just as she realized the double meaning of her words. She punched him lightly in the shoulder with a laughing gleam in her eyes.

"Keep your pants on _hüebsch_," she whispered with a wink as she turned to smile at the crowd. Hearing her say "gorgeous" in his native language made Alek's eyes cloud over with lust.

For the first time that day, Alek looked at Deryn and wanted to get her out of that dress as much as she did.

**AN:** So, I hope you liked! :D Part 3 may, sadly, take more time, as when I posted Chapter 1 I actually had a start on this chapter, but Chapter 3 I have yet to fully start :( HOWEVER, I have part 4 nearly done and part 5 completely done :D So, those two will be quick to follow.

Anyway, reviews are great because I always like to improve, especially with the jargon (as it is foreign as well as dated) :) Thanks for reading!


	3. Three

**AN:** HAPPY EARLY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

I decided the best Christmas present I could give to all of you who are reading this is the rest of the fic ALL IN ONE GO.

I just hope that you all like it and that the end will not quash your Christmas spirit. If you don't want to be sad, just read to the end of Chapter 4 and then save Chapter 5 for after Christmas. Okay?

I'm sorry about the ending. If it upsets you all terribly I can do an alternate ending? :)

Anyway, enjoy and review! :D

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Dr. Nora Barlow found the upcoming Empress sulking in her chambers, practically drowning in skirts. The dress was disgustingly extravagant; a big puffy ball gown of gold and heavy jewels that ballooned from her hips outward with a ridiculously long train. Every time Deryn looked at it, she couldn't help but think that the money put into this one dress would feed the men and beasties of the Leviathan for 10 years at least. Besides, this was the dress for an Empress...not a cross-dressing bird from Glasgow.

"Hello, Miss… _Empress_ Sharp von Hohenberg," Nora said quietly. "That's quite a…lovely dress."

"No, you know barking full well it isn't," Deryn replied with a glare. She picked up folds of it and glared at the scratchy tulle as if it had personally offended her.

Dr. Barlow smile. "Yes well, we both know you and I aren't exactly traditionalists in all things."

She came to stand beside Deryn, looking out at Deryn's new kingdom. The day Emperor Volger had died (a little less than 2 years after their wedding), the country was shocked. Although his claim to the throne had been questionable at best while he was alive, he made his death even more controversial by naming Alek his heir in his will. Deryn, by extension, then became the new Empress of Austria-Hungary and the very thing she had hoped to avoid: being trapped as a proper dame for the rest of her life. Always watching where she stepped, what she ate, what she said. It was madness.

However, when Alek tried to give up the throne to allow her the freedom she so treasured, she couldn't let him do it. She knew this was his dream, the thing his father and Volger and even he had wanted and fought for since he was born. He'd been a fugitive in war, given up all his father's gold and survive several attacks on his life for this. So she did one of the only selfless things she'd ever done (for Deryn wasn't the most generous person to grace the earth): she'd agreed.

So here they were just 2 months after Volger's will had been found, preparing for their coronation as the Emperor and Empress of Austria-Hungary at the castle in Székesfehérvár.

Nora Barlow and Deryn sat in soft silence before the latter suddenly looked up, scared. "To be honest, ma'am, I'm scared stiff. This isn't what I thought I'd be doing with my life. I'm from Glasgow; lassies like me just aren't bred to be Empresses, and Clanker ones to boot."

"Well, you weren't bred to be an airman either, were you?" Barlow replied quietly.

"Well, at least I had some training, some time to adjust! I haven't even known for a quarter of a year that I'm to be the new Empress of barking Austria- Hungary! Stupid Volger, he never really could give up on Alek could he? "

That was the gist of the reason she was even outfitted in such an outlandish fashion. They had planned on working for the Zoological society for a couple years before settling down, having a family, maybe get to owning an airship auto shop somewhere in Britain. Alek's father and Volger were just too barking stubborn.

Deryn couldn't believe she was going through with it, but she did know why.

This was what it would take to be with Alek.

She'd given up the Leviathan for him so many years ago. Now she was giving up the air entirely; her life's dream. Sure, she could still fly in a royal airship or maybe a huxley, but she'd no longer get to be topside with the wind rippling through her hair as she hung off the ratlines.

She had new dreams now.

"I think, in some ways, that's the exact quality that will make you the best Empress this country has ever seen," the boffin replied. "For starters, you will never become corrupted because it isn't power or money that you want. You'll be fair to the lower class because you were once among them, and you'll want to do well because it's important to our young Aleksander. I cannot fathom there being a more unlikely, but a more precise, candidate for the job Miss Sharp."

"Oy, that's Empress Sharp to you!" Deryn said with her best attempt at a royal expression.

"I've still got approximately 5 minutes to be insubordinate," Dr. Barlow replied, and Deryn caught the ghost of a grin gracing her stern features.

Suddenly they were interrupted by the door being flung wide open as Lilit ran into the room, one dark haired guard and one light haired guard behind her sprinting and shouting, "Your Majesty, she's armed and dangerous!"

Deryn just laughed as Lilit launched herself into Deryn's arms as she replied, "Oh, I know! And a notorious kiss stealer, to boot!"

The guards just stared as Lilit smirked. "You _still_ haven't gotten over the fact that I was the best snog of your life, have you?"

Lilit had grown since the wedding but still wasn't as tall as Deryn, and wore a long dress that was surprisingly fancy for the Ottoman native. The top was styled like a red paisley suit jacket and the bottom a black velvet skirt, fused together by a corset in the middle. Her trademark edgy heels were traded in for a small pair of black flats.

"Most undignified," Dr Barlow sniffed with a hint of a smile.

The guards looked slightly sick at the conversation. "Are you alright then, Empress?" the dark-haired one asked, bowing low with reluctance.

"Yes, yes" she said impatiently. "You're dismissed or whatever."

The guards left with urgency.

"Barking spiders, I'll never get used to this. Thank God you're here!" Deryn said with relief.

"An Empress!" Lilit exclaimed. "My best mate, a middy on the blasted warship Leviathan, is to be the Empress of barking Austria-Hungary!"

"I know, it's nuts," Deryn replied, smiling grimly. "Harder than any act I could ever pull off."

"I think you'll do great, especially for us women," Lilit said consolingly. "And there's someone else who agrees with me."

Lilit strode to the large golden doors and opened them wide, and Deryn spotted her brother Jaspert walking between the guards down the hall.

She restrained a squeak as she ran the best she could in embellished heels down the hall toward him and he caught her in a fierce hug, looking quite dashing in his navy blue military dress uniform.

"My lady, the ceremony's about to begin—" the dark-haired guard began.

"It's me brother, he's important" she said, smiling big. "But I'm nearly done. No more surprise guests, I swear."

The guards left with reluctance this time as she turned to her brother and her friend. "I'm so glad you both could be here. I needed this…to ground me. It's all so strange and new and barking bizarre" Deryn said, tears threatening to spill.

"Don't start that now, little sister," Jaspert said sternly, wiping her eyes before the flood gates could open while Lilit straightened her hair. She got a good chance to look at his face then, so much like her own with the short blond hair and the cunning eyes. His jaw was a tad broader than hers and sporting a small scar (from where a Clanker bullet had grazed him during the war) but his eyes were the same piercing blue as her own. Looking at him, she saw the epitome of her oldest dream; becoming a boy and a successful airman.

"Alek will help you, and you'll have us and a council to help you," Lilit reassured her. "Even you can't blow it, middy."

Jaspert nodded and Lilit looked between them, sensing their need to talk in private. "Well, I'll quite cheesing off the guards and go find a spot to watch the ceremony," Lilit replied with an encouraging smile.

"I think I shall join her" Dr. Barlow added, smiling in that knowing way of hers. Sneaky beaks, the pair of them.

"You'll be fine, Empress Sharp von Hohenberg!" Lilit said with a salute, and Deryn smiled as Dr. Barlow followed her friend as she waltzed to the doors with an easy gait that suited her. Deryn watched her retreating back with jealousy. "She's respected, feared, kind, strong _and_ she can still swagger around in a dress and heels," she commented with envy.

"Well, you'll be just like her soon enough," Jaspert said matter-of-factly. "You'll be an Empress; able to order people about, and swear all you like just like I taught you, and wear the most outrageous gowns you can picture."

"But it's different," Deryn insisted. "I can't just take to the air like a sparrow with a scrambled attic like Lilit can! I've got to look good so that Alek doesn't look like a bad Emperor. And I do have to wear these outrageously gaudy gowns that make me feel like a phony instead of ones like Lilit's which are spot on. Barking spiders, this being in love business can be a real bucket of clart."

"But where would you be without it?" Jaspert wondered, smiling at his little sister who came so much farther than even he had had a right to expect.

"True," she whispered, smiling back.

Suddenly the doors opened and the guards walked in, stating "It's time, Your Highness."

"Alright then," she murmured, taking Jaspert's arm.

They began to walk down the long marble hallway, her shoes clacking as she tried to walk straight with her head up.

Suddenly Jaspert began to laugh, explaining to her confused frown "Do you remember the morning before your first day in the air force? You fell asleep studying at your desk in a pool of piffle! Not exactly the most ladylike of circumstances, wouldn't you say?"

As they reached the guest entrance, she couldn't help a mischievous smirk as he pulled away to enter the room. "Well, I'm not exactly going to be the conventional Empress they've been expecting, that's for sure."

"That's my girl," he said with a smile. He looked back and caught her answering grin, clutching this last piece of his impish little sister close to his heart.

...

Alek felt stiff in his button up red and gold suit, waiting by the massive wooden door for Deryn to arrive. It was becoming increasingly hard to remember the minimal amount of training he'd had as a child to prepare him for this day.

He had been just as surprised as Deryn to find out his old fencing instructor had left him the throne of a country in his will. He hadn't even gotten a chance to mourn his old mentor before he was thrust into making the biggest decision of his life. And he couldn't have made it without Deryn.

Accepting the throne of Austria-Hungary may have been the biggest decision he ever made, but being a husband to Deryn was the most important one. He knew she wasn't cut out for this; in fact, it was one of the things that made her stand out in his eyes. He had been prepared to abdicate the throne, to choose someone else more fitting to take his place, but it was her hand that stopped him.

He still couldn't understand why.

So on the day when the deal would be sealed, of course his thoughts were with her and how she was getting along. He had no doubt she was wary, overwhelmed and probably a bit fed up with being fussed over.

So it calmed his heart when he finally heard her heels clacking on the floor as she came into view, head held high and looking as confident as she ever had scaling the ratlines of the airship that still held a bigger part of her heart than he ever would.

The dress was nice, but he definitely preferred the dress she had worn to their wedding. If anyone else had been wearing it, they would have looked fake and pretentious.

But this was Deryn, and those were two things she would never be.

Her face changed from a neutral expression to one of adoring happiness when she reached him, taking his extended arm. "I see your high-heeled walk has improved," Alek whispered, referencing the ball they had attended as members of the Zoological Society.

"Unfortunately," Deryn replied wryly, straightening her chaotic blond wig.

Alek smiled at the genuine Deryn statement before he grew serious. "Are you sure about this?" he said, watching her profile intently.

She turned her head so she faced him, blue eyes piercing him like glass as they always did. "Well, will anyone try to keep me from flyin'? 'Cause I'll box their ears if they do."

Alek didn't even hesitate. "Never."

"Well good I'm happy then, Alek. I'm a simple girl who only needs to be able to fly and keep you in line to be happy. When you take away all the riff-raff and get to the bare skeleton of the situation, that's what I get out of this. So yes, I'm quite pleased."

Alek smiled and leaned in to kiss her right before the doors opened. "You're incredible," he said with awe.

"Always that tone of surprise, _dummkopf_" she commented quietly as the pope began reading their new titles and they began to walk.

"I love you too,_ hüebsch_" Alek replied, and out of the corner of his eye he caught the tightening of her lips holding back a smile as they walked, arm-in-arm, towards their next adventure.

**AN:** Thanks for reading everyone! Hope you liked!

**Playlist: **

Soulshaper- Juke Kartel

Safe and Sound- Taylor Swift

Big Black Car- Gregory Alan Isakov


	4. Four

**AN:** Chapter 4 everyone! :)

Enjoy and review! :)

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Deryn was happy.

Being an Empress was just as awful as she had feared at times, but it was great in others.

Women were allowed in the navy and the airforce now in Austria-Hungary, although she had had to fight hard against her council to make it so. Currently, she was working on getting the same rights in the army, where apparently there was 'increased risk' or some stupid piss poor excuse of the same sort.

The people of Austria-Hungary had learned to accept their rough and tumble Empress and her gentle and wise husband, who had both changed things for the better in the country that had almost been torn apart by war.

The biggest change? Austria-Hungary was now a neutral country, where both Clankers and Darwinists could thrive. They had become very progressive in their currently 3-year rule.

However, things didn't always go that smoothly for the pair.

"You are an insufferable git, Alek!" his wife growled, eyes flashing like walker headlights.

"Don't be difficult, Deryn!" Alek shouted back, glaring at her. "You shouldn't be taking unnecessary risks."

"You can't tell me what I can and can't do, you clart-sniffin' bumrag!" She screamed, her middy's slang creeping into her vocabulary with her temper.

"I will _not_ fight you on this, Deryn! This is one thing I have to insist upon!" Alek insisted with frustration and finality.

"No! I told you one of the only 2 things I ask for is to be able to fly. You're taking that away for nothing!" She said, eyes cutting into him as she began to pace.

Alek hated to see her like this, so clearly hurt and angry. But her health came first. "I'm not taking the air away from you Deryn; I'm just protecting you and our children! Or did you forget you're carrying them right now?"

"As if I could forget this hulking balloon sticking out of my middle," she scoffed, looking down at her stomach.

"Well that 'hulking balloon' contains our children, and they're as fragile as a balloon; one wrong poke and they'll die," Alek said grimly, trying not to think about something so painful. He hadn't even met them yet, but he loved them. There was no way he was going to let her put them in danger, even for her own happiness.

"So I'm just supposed to stay on the ground because you don't think I'll be careful enough?"

"Now you're just jumbling my words. I trust you completely, but accidents happen in the air that you can't prevent. And I'm not making you stay on the ground! You can have someone take you up in a blimp or a small airbeast."

"But it isn't the _same_! You have no idea what I've done for you, you daft prince!" Deryn said, voice cracking. "You have no idea how much I've already given up for you. Did you ever think that I may not have wanted this? I gave up the air for you; I gave up my old _dreams_ for you, Alek. And I may not want them back but I'm just trying to hold onto a small sliver of them. Please let me!"

"I'm sorry that you've had to give up more for me than you've gotten back, but I've done everything I can to make this life as good for you as possible. This is one place that I can't let you be reckless."

Silence greeted the pair like an old friend before Alek squeezed his temples with one hand and muttered, "Never mind; this yelling and stress is no good for you either."

Deryn sat down in the window seat and drew her knees up as close as she could to her chest, hugging a pillow and looking up at the sky to which she had tried to escape to in a Huxley earlier that day. Apparently piloting any sort of air beastie was frowned upon when you're an Empress and ridiculously enormous with the next two heirs to the Austrian throne. Tears stung her eyes and she blamed it on the pregnancy hormones, deciding instead to channel them into a much easier emotion. Anger. "I'm so barking tired of being careful! I—" Suddenly Deryn trailed off as she felt the oddest sensation beneath her when she shifted. She looked down and, upon seeing the spreading stain on the emerald green fabric, realized what exactly was going on.

Her water had broken, more than one week earlier than predicted.

"Oh," she squeaked lamely, clutching her stomach.

"Deryn? What's going on?" Alek said, panic in his voice as he rushed over to kneel by her side.

Just as he caught sight of the stain, she whispered fearfully "ALEK!"

"God's wounds, are you…?" he whispered, unable to finish.

"Yes, yes I do believe I am," she replied, looking up at him with wide eyes.

Alek's face drew into a nervous frown. "I'll go fetch the doctor. Don't move, _meine liebe_."

Alek rushed from the room as Deryn's first contraction slammed into her and, caught off guard, she clutched her stomach and a low keening noise burst from her lungs. It was that moment that Deryn realized just how much she had underestimated the ordeal of childbirth.

And damn if it didn't scare the clart out of her.

Alek returned as she attempted to breathe, gasping and cursing. The doctor looked on in disdain at her airman's language before she yelled "Well? What do I _do_?"

The doctor watched as Alek rushed to her side and attempted to pick her up behind her knees while Deryn complained that she was in labour, not an invalid.

"Where's the best place for her, doctor?" the Emperor asked more calmly, but his eyes were wild as Deryn struggled to her feet and leaned on his shoulder.

"Just on ze bed iz fine, just make sure she iz not curled up," he replied as midwives rushed in behind him, having heard the commotion.

Alek supported her as she staggered over to the green velvet bed they shared with a moan. He helped her lay down and pushed her shoulders back when she tried to curl around her center.

"You heard the doctor; that's not a good idea," Alek said, smoothing her short hair back.

"Ugh," Deryn exclaimed as she slumped onto the bed and the nurses began stripping her elaborate gown off her as well as the expensive green sheets. Alek stood back as they changed her into an old shift and glared at the very male doctor who didn't look away as any gentleman would.

When he heard a small whine come from the direction of the bed again, he whipped his head around and blanched as he looked at his wife, never having ever seen her in so much distress. That was the moment Alek truly began to appreciate what Deryn was doing for him.

"They…must be… girls," Deryn panted, clutching the bed sheet as the latest contraction ebbed.

"Why?" Alek wondered, going to her side to take her hand.

"They're so… barking strong!" She squeaked, clutching Alek's hand for dear life even though she wasn't experiencing a contraction.

It took him several moments, for it was such a foreign concept, to realize that Deryn was scared.

Another contraction hit and Deryn was nearly bent double, her face as red as the lion on the imperial flag as tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. Nurses rushed around yelling things about 4 centimeters and getting some sort of salve as the doctor tried to ask Deryn questions about the pain while she panted.

Alek's stomach rolled at the chaos and when Deryn glanced at his face after the pain, she breathed a laugh.

"Weak stomach, daft Prince?" She questioned, resting herself.

"I guess so," he muttered.

"Your Majesty, it is very improper of you to be in the birthing chamber. You should leave," a midwife said, attempting to shoo him.

He stood up and looked down at her, trying to show imperial authority. "I will not be leaving my wife, but thank you," he said politely at the same time Deryn yelled, with much less restraint, "he's not going anywhere! These children are his as much as mine!"

Almost immediately after yelling at the midwife Deryn's face went a sickly colour and she heaved her stomach contents onto the floor beside the bed. Alek's stomach flipped as a midwife beat him to her side to hold her hair and he concentrated on not spewing his cookies along with her.

"Bloody hell," she moaned as tears leaked from her eyes again.

Alek returned to her side, ignoring the fact that he was now effectively kneeling in her vomit. "Don't worry, _prächtig, _you're doing wonderfully," he whispered, clasping her sweaty hand as she closed her eyes against the pain once again.

After 6 long hours of cursing and yelling, it seemed that Deryn and their children had both had enough.

"Here comes the first one!" the midwife announced as Deryn let out a frustrated groan.

"Barking spiders, about time!" she shouted, giving a tremendous push and her face going redder than it already was. A few minutes later a high-pitched shriek pierced the air and Alek realized that this time it wasn't Deryn as the first of their twins met the world for the first time.

"It's a boy!" the woman announced a second later and Deryn nearly cried with happiness.

Almost immediately she began to push again, sweat pouring down her face as her cries increased in volume.

After several minutes of panting and exhausted pushing, a second cry tore through the air and Deryn slumped to the bed in obvious relief.

"It's... a girl!" the nurse announced shortly after and Deryn sighed, a smile gracing her face for the first time in almost 7 hours.

And then she began to cry.

"Are you okay?" Alek asked.

"Perfect, I am absolutely perfect," she breathed and Alek, who had been holding her hand the whole time, brushed the tears from her cheeks as he watched her with a tender smile.

As the twins were finally handed over to Deryn and the bustle around them resumed, Alek just looked at Deryn's face as she looked at their children with the most adoring smile he had ever seen.

Suddenly Alek couldn't help but think that all the other times he had seen her in a dress could not hold a candle to this moment, when she was the most radiant, courageous person he had ever seen.

Finally he looked at his children and realized that he was going to feed them, change them, comfort them when they were sad and watch them grow into incredible, unique people no matter who tried to stop him.

He couldn't wait.

**AN:** Hope you liked!

p.s. Please excuse my lame attempt at a birthing scene... I've never seen it nor experienced it, and I was a little pressed for time today trying to get all 3 chapters done in time.


	5. Five

**AN:** Hello everyone! So this is the dreaded last chapter. I hated writing it as much as I'm sure you all will hate reading it.

It had to be done, sadly.

I hope you can appreciate the fic as a whole, and just want to say thank you for sticking with it until the end. It really means a lot to me.

Anyway, enjoy and review! :)

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Somewhere, Deryn was furious.

Or at least, Alek hoped she was. Because she wouldn't be Deryn if she wasn't.

It had not been Alek's idea for Deryn to wear the heavy, gaudy blue dress. Though he had agreed with his advisors that the dress closely matched the colour his wife's eyes had been, he had objected to the fact that it wasn't _her_. Deryn would have wanted to be in a flight suit, as if in preparation for her eternal flight. His advisors argued that they were talking about an Empress, not a soldier (something Alek did not agree with) and that she needed a proper, traditional ceremony. Dr. Barlow wasn't even there to argue in her defense; she had died 5 years previous of a heart condition.

He glanced at Deryn's dress-clad form, proof of his failure to her memory, and fought the urge to both laugh and cry.

Laugh, because Deryn would be scowling if she could see herself like this. Empress she may be, lady she was not.

Cry, because she'll never know.

Mourners wandered over, seemingly aimless but really with a purpose to get the fuck out of there, with those fake smiles that Alek had hated since his childhood. All the "I'm sorry's" and "you'll be okay's" and "she's in a better place's" fell on deaf ears. Alek supposes that yes, maybe they _are_ sorry: sorry that they were forced to come and waste their time on a death that they were sad wasn't his so they could get a more "adept" emperor on the throne. Maybe she _was _in a better place, where she didn't have to face living in a cold home where her every move was watched and she was caged from the flying she so loved.

But he knew that in their emotionless sentiments they had one thing wrong: he would never be okay. Broken things didn't just fix themselves, not completely. They always carried that memory of being broken.

And that's what Alek felt like, on the day he buried his wife. Broken.

Lilit and Jaspert stood off to his left, as well as Deryn's mom and aunts. They had all talked to him before the ceremony and his kids had yet to arrive, but they were the only people he believed would miss her how he missed her. They had come to him, tears in their eyes, and embraced him with no words. He knew how they felt: there were no words to express the type of hole Deryn had left in all their lives when she had died 6 days previous, in a car accident. In the end it had been the ground, not the sky, that had killed her.

Alek was an old man, 71 years old and reaching the end of his time, and on that day he started to live his biggest nightmare; living longer than his wife. He stood there at her funeral and smiled in that fake way he hated as he realized that he was walking through the center of hell but had no choice but to keep on going.

And then, the last remaining light in his life appeared. The twin lightbulbs that were all that was keeping him from irreversible darkness stepped out of the walker and glimpsed him, standing to the right of the casket.

Immediately the Prince and Princess von Hohenberg broke through the diplomatic silence and ran up to their papa with exclamations of relief. Whether it was relief upon seeing him or the knowledge that they weren't alone in their sadness Alek wasn't quite sure. But he felt it.

Sophie wrapped her arms around him, burying her tear-streaked face into the shoulder of his black velvet dress uniform and he embraced her back, trying to shield her against the cruelty of their shared reality. Artemis stood rigid and Alek made eye contact with his son over his daughter's shoulder, glimpsing the suppressed but identical sadness on his face that he could see on his daughter's.

When Sophie pulled back she had herself under control, the tears dried and her mouth set in a grim line. The determined look on her face surrounded by her short blonde hair made her his wife's mirror image.

"How are you doing, Papa?" Sophie asked, looking him up and down. He couldn't imagine what she would be thinking of him, for he was sure he looked like a man defeated.

Not wanting to lie to his kids, Alek settled for the best answer he could give. "I'm…managing." Yes he was managing, managing the feeling of losing half of his soul, managing the weight of the world crashing back down onto his shoulders with enough force to break him had he not already been broken. He was _managing_ this terrible excuse for a wake where he was expected to be tough, unfeeling and most of all he was expected to be _fine_.

If Deryn were here, she would be disgusted. This was the wake for a stuffy royal, not a gangly girl from Glasgow who had a dream and chased it. This wasn't a wake for the girl who'd stolen his heart like a change purse and flown off with it, leaving him to trail after her in amazement. Now she'd finally left him for good, with no map to guide him and no parachute to cushion his fall back to reality.

Alek finally took a real good look at his kids through his pain-driven haze and he realized that everything he had was connected, in some way, to Deryn Sharp.

Artemis' short auburn hair whipped about in the breeze as he brushed some lint from his black lapel, staring with bright blue eyes at the fallen leaves on the ground with a hard expression on his face. Sophie was still staring at her father, her emerald eyes rimmed in red from crying and holding her 38 year old self as tall as she could while bearing the weight of her sadness.

These two amazing children, dressed in black mourning and made of the richest fabrics that contained her spirit, were here in the world because of her. He had a throne, one that he would not have had without her with him, fighting for his right to be emperor. And the only other thing he had was a living body, one that may only have half a soul but one that she had saved countless times throughout their life together. All he had was thanks to her.

Suddenly Alek realized that the only two threads that still held his shit together were not the public, not his titles or his country or his sanity, but they were his children and the memory of his wife.

Alek knew, in that keen way that soulmates do, that Deryn wouldn't have wanted him to cry for her, especially not in front of their children. He also knew that if he broke down now, they would never be able to get that image out of their head for the rest of their lives.

That was the only reason Alek didn't fall to the ground and sob, crying to God like a small child does to its mother, begging for an explanation of why a wound hurts so bad. These people, these pseudo-mourners, did not deserve the effort Alek was currently making. But his wife and children did.

He looked back down at the elaborate casket and realized that he never wanted to see his wife clad in a dress again. He decided to never again look at the pictures from their first ball with the Zoological Society, nor pictures of their wedding day or their coronation or the birth of their magnificent twins. He would not look at the papers in the coming weeks where his wife's death would be splattered all over the pages like blood at a crime scene. He would not look at any of these important times in his life, where Deryn had looked her most beautiful in most people's eyes. He would simply spend his days looking at his past, the good old days where Deryn looked more like Dylan Sharp the boy (and also at her most breathtaking, in his opinion) than Empress Deryn Sharp von Hohenberg the girl, two things that she had never wanted to be. _She always said she gave up the air for me…what if that suffocated her_? Alek wondered. _What if I caged her? Locked her away from all air so that she not only couldn't fly but couldn't breathe either?_

Alek shook back the pain and the guilt for a later, less public time by pulling Sophie to his left side and Artemis to his right as he forced himself to be as strong as he would have been if Deryn were standing rather than lying there beside him.

And he stood like this with the remains of his true family while he endured the wake and the funeral in the coming days, the beginning of an eternal act for the world that Emperor Aleksander von Hohenberg was _fine. _

**AN:** Sorry, sorry, sorry! :O I did warn you.

Thank you so much for reading my story, and I'm sorry about the ending. Hope you liked despite the sadness :)

Goodbye until my next fic! :) xo


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